What I climbed up for Comic Relief

One day I was listening to the radio, when an advertisement came on about Comic Relief. It was trying to convince everyone to do their bit for the charity. Several ideas were suggested, but the one that got me interested was "... abseil down your school...". Feeling in a charitable mood, this is what I decided to do. I asked my friend, Aidan McCartney, if he would carry out this feat with me, and he agreed.

The tallest structure in our school grounds is the chimney from the canteen. Unfortunately, being who they are, the school staff were never going to let us abseil down its sturdy framework. We had to keep the whole event secret for as long as possible. As you can see from the picture, the chimney consists of a triangular section steel frame with a chimney (not shown in diagram) fixed to each flat side. We were planning to climb up the inside of the frame using a custom built ladder which spanned one stage. When we had both climbed up to the next stage, we would pull the ladder up and continue.

The Event
Aidan and I came down to school at about 5:30 in the afternoon on the day before Comic Relief. We got the ladder and ropes ready on the ground. Andrew Stewart was filming the procedure so that we could prove to people that we actually climbed up. People had promised up to £35 if we completed the abseil successfully.

Unfortunately, several teachers were staying late after school, so we had to be very careful. When we finally started to climb, the ladder worked very well, so it didn't take long to get to the top (about 15 minutes). We had to pause and stand still a few times because people were driving past on the ground, but they didn't see us. At the top, I unfurled a flag with the message "Climbed for Comic Relief 1997". While Aidan and I were up there, I took a couple of photographs, then started to unroll the rope down which we were going to abseil .

View South from the top of the chimney
From here you can see the roof of the Sports Hall which is a large building, and the top of the 'L-block', the three-storey science department. In the distance is Benbradagh mountain, one of several skirting the Roe Valley. The people playing football on the fields of the school didn't notice Aidan and me at all.

View West from the top of the chimney
This is the back gate of the school, where some potential sponsorers are watching from. In the background is the Roe Park golf course. The blur round the edges of the photo is the top of the chimney frame which got into the picture.

Caught in the act!
While we were taking in the sights, we didn't notice an unmarked police car driving into the school. Apparently, someone in the housing estate beside the school (on the right in the view West) had reported us. We were told to come down immediately, so we had to abandon all hope of abseiling and use the ladder again. At the bottom, the police officers told us we were mad, and all the usual climbing-up-a-large-structure-that-belongs-to-someone-else talk, following which they took our names and addresses and informed our parents. They also told me to dismantle my ladder, but I think I will use it for its alternative purpose on the treehouse.

My parents weren't too angry because I regularly climb trees (I've only fallen once) and because we were raising money for charity. I think Aidan's parents were a bit more annoyed... In the end, we raised £30 (some people paid less because we didn't abseil ) for Comic Relief and we didn't get punished. One of the Vice-Principals of the school soon found out, but he just told us that the chimney wasn't strong enough - it was only held up by "...three aluminium stays...", he said. However, he was totally wrong, the frame was made of 10 inch square section steel tubing and it was incredibly strong.

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